“My Fair Lady” and “The Great Race” to Unspool in Hollywood

Beverly Hills, CA - “My Fair Lady” and “The Great Race” will screen at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ Linwood Dunn Theater in Hollywood on Friday, March 27, and Saturday, March 28, respectively. Screenings will begin at 8 p.m. The programs are presented by the Academy’s Science and Technology Council in conjunction with its “Dressed in Color: The Costumes” exhibition, which includes costumes from both films.

In “My Fair Lady,” the 1964 Best Picture winner adapted from the acclaimed Broadway musical, Audrey Hepburn and Rex Harrison star as Eliza Doolittle, a Cockney flower girl, and Professor Henry Higgins, the phonetics expert who accepts a challenge to transform her into a sophisticated Victorian lady.

“My Fair Lady” won eight Oscars® – Actor (Harrison), Color Art Direction (Gene Allen, Cecil Beaton; Set Decoration: George James Hopkins), Color Cinematography (Harry Stradling), Color Costume Design (Beaton), Directing (George Cukor), Music – Scoring of Music – Adaptation or treatment (Andre Previn), Best Picture (Jack L. Warner, producer), Sound (Warner Bros. Studio Sound Department, George R. Groves, sound director). The film was also nominated for Actor in a Supporting Role (Stanley Holloway), Actress in a Supporting Role (Gladys Cooper), Film Editing (William Ziegler) and Writing – Screenplay based on material from another medium (Alan Jay Lerner).

Jack Lemmon, Tony Curtis and Natalie Wood star in “The Great Race” (1965), a comedy in which wealthy daredevil The Great Leslie, the maniacal Professor Fate and feminist reporter Maggie DuBois compete in a turn-of-the-century auto race from New York to Paris.

Directed by Blake Edwards, “The Great Race” was nominated for five Academy Awards® – Color Cinematography (Russell Harlan), Film Editing (Ralph E. Winters), Music – Song (“The Sweetheart Tree,” Music by Henry Mancini; Lyrics by Johnny Mercer), Sound (Warner Bros. Studio Sound Department, George R. Groves, sound director). Tregoweth Brown earned an Oscar in the Sound Effects category.

Both evenings will feature special viewing hours (from 6 to 8 p.m. and following the screening) of the “Dressed in Color: The Costumes” exhibition. The exhibition, which examines the important aspects of costume design for color films from the 1940s through the 1960s, is on display through May 2.

Established in 2003 by the Academy’s Board of Governors, the Science and Technology Council provides a forum for the exchange of information, promotes cooperation among diverse technological interests within the industry, sponsors publications, fosters educational activities and preserves the history of science and technology of motion pictures.

Tickets to “My Fair Lady” and “The Great Race” are $5 each for the general public and $3 for Academy members and students with a valid ID. Tickets are available for purchase by mail, at the Academy box office (Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.), or online at www.oscars.org. Doors open one hour prior to the event. All seating is unreserved.

The Linwood Dunn Theater is located at 1313 Vine Street in Hollywood.

For more information call (310) 247-3600 or visit www.oscars.org.